Marshmallows & Meringue
by Cardboard Edward
Summary: Moving to a new region sucks. Moving to a new region and becoming rivals with an annoying pigtailed girl sucks more. Based off of Heartgold and Soulsilver. Companion fic to Lollipops & Lemonade.
1. a is for adventure

WHOO new story! :D This is a counterpart fic to Lolipops and Lemonade, which I haven't updated for a week. Oops. ...anyways. Enjoy!

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_He's never much liked sunny days._

_It was the rain, where he was comfortable. The dark, where he felt calm._

_So the fact today was all sunshine and rainbows was pretty damn annoying._

_He's breathing in and then sighing. Over and over. This was a stupid idea. A really stupid idea._

_And he'd never admit it, but he misses Kanto. He hates Johto, with its strange people and stranger accents._

_But he can't go back._

_He stubbornly pushes his bangs back and reminds himself that he's on a mission. Mission, mission, mission._

There was a boy on the roof of ones of the houses. Ink black hair, shiny and choppily cut. Hair that isn't, you know, the color of a stupid rose and stands out everywhere he goes, the boy thought with a bit of jealousy. Jealous of hair. Christ. The boy had a blue Pokemon, round and cute. Ugh. He had a stupid smile on his face as he stared at the sky. If he was a threat, he was the least threatening threat he had ever seen.

The Pokemon flew off the roof, the boy quickly following suit, running out of his line of vision. He sighed, entertainment gone, and leaned against the building. God, what time was it? Daylight savings or not, where the hell was Elm? He chewed on his lip ignoring the conversation occurring a little while away from him, invisible, but loud. Very loud.

Elm, where were you? He ignored the obnoxious teen's conversation, blocking out every word. His casual, cheerful voice was easily enough forgotten, but his.. friend, the girl…

Girls were so annoying.

He was putting all of his effort into blocking her out when he suddenly realized she was heading towards the lab. A large- almost giant- white hat, and loud, clashy colors popped into view. She dressed like she had blindly picked cute clothes from her closet.

How could she be so damn annoying without even trying? Everything about her, just… defined the word. Somehow. Anyways. Elm, he should be there soon, white coat, glasses, short…She was still there. She was just standing outside the lab, hands together, looking around for something invisible, her hat covering most of her face from the angle he was at.

Without thinking, he was out of the shadow of the lab, trying to get a better look. Why? … She could be Elm's kid, for all he knew. Christ, did he have to have an answer for everything?

She raised her head slightly, looking up, and her features flooded with light. His heartbeat seemed to be broken. Tiny nose, gentle cheeks. Soft bone structure, rounded, per-decent lips. Long eyelashes, a soft brown. Hazel eyes, wondering what the world was asking her to do.

She was stunning.

A beauty in awful clothing, at least.

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

What the hell did he just-?

Oh no. No way in the hell… that, and the annoying girl were the same. What the hell was going on with HIM, anyways? Girls were not things he cared about. They were a waste of time. And yet- shut _up_, heartbeat- he couldn't stop staring.

_Shit._

Her hair-defying gravity as it did so- whipped around and she was staring back at him. He shot back into the shadows as quickly as he could. Heart was still racing. He was screaming mentally, trying to snap back into sanity, just let it END.

She was in front of him now, standing, posture cautious, her giant hat almost blocking out the sun. He stared steadily at it, not daring to allow himself to look at her face again. It was a fluke. He was worried about getting caught. And now he was being caught, right? No more… mistakes.

(Of course, no matter how hard he thought this, it really wasn't changing a thing.)

He stumbled for words- _Speak_, dammit, _speak_- trying to find something that would make the fluttering go away.

"What are you staring at?" His words felt odd even to himself. Not the first time he had told someone to shove off like that, but still. Weird. He glared at her. Stupid, annoying girl, go ahead. Say something.

"Ah, sorry, my name's-" He cut her off. Obstacles don't need names. He pushed his palms against her small shoulders, and she almost crashed to the ground. Shit, she was stronger then she looked. She wobbled uncomfortably on her feet. Three words. The most annoying girl he had ever met. He despised her.

That was it.

She was glaring hard back at him, her eyebrows jutted down, her eyes staring at him piercingly, and he takes this anger as a challenge. _How angry_, he wondered, silencing her again by simply resting her index finger on her cherry lips, _could she get_?

"Don't mess with me." No more then you already have, he added mentally.

Her feet failed her, and her cheeks glowed pink, her face falling between surprise to anger, to full anger. He turned away.

He didn't know what would happen, if he looked at that face for too long.

Loud stomps alerted him that she had left, and much quieter footsteps informed him that one of Elm's aides had finally arrived and let her in.

He sighed, knowing he would have to wait for her to exit the area before he could launch his mission. He leaned back against the wall, hands folded behind his neck, elbows sticking out on either side of his head.

Don't think about her.

Easier said then done. For a girl who was nameless to him, she was hard to ignore. Why? Because she was beautiful?

Because that was a stupid reason.

There was something more to her, something he didn't understand at all, a divine mystery in life there to taunt him. In fact, that seemed to describe the girl as a whole. He gritted his teeth and moved his mind to something else. He wondered if the sky would stay sunny and bright forever, and what starter he would get, and what the first gym was like, and many other answerless questions only there to serve the purpose of distracting him until she slammed open the door, making him jump. Following her at her ankles was a fire Pokemon, blue and tan with a fiery back. Cyndaquil, wasn't it?

He had made his decision for his own starter, at least, he thought with a small smirk.

She walked towards the grass, and stopped suddenly as the boy from earlier suddenly shot out of nowhere. Where did he come from? He watched the two of them cautiously, making sure to hide in the shadows of the lab.

"That's your starter?" He turned away from her and kneeled on the ground.

"Yep. She's a girl." How could she tell? He hoped his Pokemon wouldn't be a girl. Ugh. "Nameless, as of yet."

"Eva," the boy shot back a second later.

She looked confused. "What?"

"She's definitely an Eva." He said something to the Pokemon, inaudible to him. He could read lips, but he was too far away. He could, however, figure out what she was saying.

"Nuh-uh… Actually, I think you're right. Huh. She is pretty Eva-y." She smiled at her friend, sweet and happy. The redhead bit his lip lightly. The other boy stood up again, and smiled at her.

They were close, the boy lurking in the shadows noted with a grimace. Very close. Not like he cared.

"Hey, you're about to head out, aren't you?" Thank god, he had been waiting for way too long. "Then you better get to your mom's. She's still got your Pokegear, right?" Poke-what? Johto was so weird, Christ.

"Oh snap! You're right, thank you, augh, I almost forgot!" He shut his eyes and sighed, waiting for her to finally leave for good, when her voice started up again. Ugh.

"Ethan!" So that was the ink-colored-haired boy's name. It suited him, in an odd way. He let his mind drift from the conversation. Ethan. Common, meaning, "Firm, Strong, Long-lived." The boy gave an aura of being a fantastic trainer, despite his weak blue Pokemon. Maybe it was just for show.

The girl's name probably meant "anger" or "impatience." He found himself wishing he still had the book that Rita had left. She had been kicked out so fast she had left all of the baby stuff there, including her names book. He read it almost obsessively; enjoying the flood of knowledge it gave him. If he ever saw her again (which he doubted), he really would have to thank her. He grumbled, wishing he had popped it into his bag, but…

Maybe Johto had bookstores. He hadn't seen any, but, truth be told, he had only been to two towns. This one, and the one by the sea. He slept the entire train ride and missed all off the bright, over populated towns and cities shooting past him. He had a map, of course, but all it gave him was a mere overview of the reg-

He suddenly noticed he no longer had to tune out the two friends. The girl went off into a stumbling run. When he turned back to look at Ethan, he was gone. His eyebrows rose high onto his forehead at the teenagers disappearing act. He looked back at the other young member of the town. Even though he couldn't see her face, it was very obvious she was crying, or at least fighting back tears. He stared at her back, feeling awkward.

Watching girls cry was weird. But he couldn't look away. Why would this girl be crying? He would have assumed she didn't even have tear ducts. He forced his eyes to tear away from her.

Despite the fact he definitely hated her, Haruhi did not want to see the girl cry. It was something he didn't understand at all, and felt like the mix of Déjà vu and a headache.

Johto was weird.


	2. b is for beginning

My last update of the summer. ): Gonna be a bit of a hiatus, due to SCHOOOOOL AHHH. I hopefully will be updating once every 2/3 weeks-ish. Love you guys!

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Double check.

Triple check.

Quadru- Okay, no. She's gone. Stop worrying.

Haruhi wasn't at the most calm state of mind at the moment, but he was managing. He breathed in deeply and squared his shoulders. This would be easy.

He pushed hard on the door and two young aides working under the professor looked at him in surprise.

Storming through the lab, one of them fluttered towards him uneasily. "H-hey, what are yo-"

He shot the young man- maybe less then eight years older then him- a frozen glare. He stopped short as if shot.

Haruhi glanced around. Elm was nowhere in sight. Damn. The aides were probably too stupid to operate the security system, maybe if he-

Glancing at the podium holding the starters, he almost laughed. No plexiglass, alarm, sensors… not even a motion sensor. The Pokemon were completely unprotected. He smirked as he strode over to the display, ignoring the two employees squeaks of worry disapproval. He picked a Pokeball up and examined it.

It was the water Pokemon, right? It had to be. With this, all he had to do was find the girl, battle her, and then laugh at her defeat. Then, he'd never have to see this stupid town (or her) again. Perfect plan.

He held the Pokeball tight, and strolled quickly but casually to the door. This is where the other members of the lab grew a backbone. They stood in front of the door, glaring at him.

"Give it back!"

"Make me."

The other one, who hadn't spoke yet, looked horrified. This was a hell of a lot easier then he thought it would be. He slammed hard with his left shoulder into the door, and the two nerds jumped away instantly.

Bodyguards would be a good idea, Elm. He smirked. Striding into the sun again, he knew it was time to start running. He dropped the Pokeball into his black messenger bag, and sprinted casually out of the town.

Running had always been easy. He was fast, back when he went to school. The fastest boy at his elementary, and probably his middle school, if he bothered to spend more then one year and a half there. The girls never tried.

He had a solid three years of running. From one place to another, away from people. It seemed like Haruhi was always running away from a place, never to. This wasn't a problem to him. Nevertheless, he relaxed as he fell to the ground in a well chosen hiding place at the edge of Cherrygrove. Here he would wait, wait for his chance to show off his new water type. He smiled, looking down at the simple Pokeball in his hand. Revenge was sweet.

Haruhi had time, though. Back flat against the edge of the building, he sat with one leg bent, gazing contently at his black messenger bag. It was worn, and a lot more brownish grey now instead of black, but… well, he had had it for 2 and half years. Somewhat unavoidable. It held, quite simply, his life. The thing must have weighed 40 pounds. Maybe more.

Contents of said bag: An old, almost completely useless mp3 player, small headphones, several worn notebooks, plastic water bottles (3), a thermos, blue and black ink pens, (5, most of which do not work) a calculator, a copy of Oliver Twist, Wizard Of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, 1984, The Princess Bride, and a few other more recent titles. (He thought most of these books were stupid, and read them only out of extreme boredom) mechanical Pencils (2), traditional Pencils (1 and a half), hair ties (More then he'd ever bother to count), a couple extra t-shirts (4), small bottles of shampoo and soap (5), Granola Bars (2, restock was necessary), old newspaper articles, a flashlight, a rope, some crappy, broken tent equipment, trash bags (4, also running low), a Swiss army knife, crumpled money thrown here and there, lots of change, a few very, very well folded photographs, and a pokeball. That was it.

Obviously, this thing was completely packed and really, really heavy. He didn't really notice anymore, though, as he never ever went anywhere without it. He sighed and picked up one of his more recently obtained (aka stolen) titles and read, feeling bored and somewhat anxious. His mind was somewhere else, on hazel eyes and gravity defying pigtails. He had known that she existed for what- an hour? Maybe two, now. And yet… she was so damn hard to forget, even for a moment. When he beat her, that would go away. It had to. It just… really had to.

Haruhi read quietly, still feeling distracted. The pages flipped by quickly, and he soon lost track of time through stereotypical characters and generic twists. She was even drifting out of his head..

Until loud footfalls alerted him that someone was racing through Cherrygrove like they were escaping from jail. He shut the book and replaced it in his bag, grabbing the starter and standing up. Shifting through the entrance of the little alley-secret-passageway, he walked over to her casually.

Confidence tugged a smirk onto his lips. She stared back at him, looking tired and out of energy. Still, though, her eyes looked as alive and pissed off as they did a few hours ago. New was the sleek device hanging from her lemonade yellow bag. He paused for a second, surprised. A Pokedex? Really? …Did she steal it? Maybe he should of picked one of those up, as well. At her feet, stood the Cyndaquil from before, innocently skipping around. He really hoped his Pokemon wasn't so… stupid.

"That's your Pokemon?" Well, yeah, obviously, plus, he had already seen it, but… she didn't know that, did she. She tensed, glaring at him harder. "Elm must be a complete idiot to give a Pokemon like that to a person like you." The words tumbled out easily, though he didn't totally understand them- wasn't he just dissing her starter a moment earlier? She just stood her ground silently, getting angrier and angrier by the second. Haruhi continued. "You're not even worth the time to battle y-" He was lying and he knew it, but he got cut off before he could finish.

"Are you challenging me?" She sounded so angry. It was perfect.

He smiled venomously. "Perhaps I am."

"Bring it," she shot back, her Cyndaquil moving, prepared to fight. This was going to be over very fast. He took the stolen pokeball from his pocket, clicking it as he had always saw on TV. A beam shot out, and he finally saw his Pokemon before him.

Haruhi was in no way a Pokemon expert. One day? Maybe. Today? Yeah, no. One thing he definitely knew, though, was that most water Pokemon were not green. _And they did not have giant leaves on their heads._

He had picked the grass type.

And now, she actually had a chance of beating him.

He cursed himself, over and over in his head. Why didn't he ask? They would have told him anything- why didn't he ask, shit, shit, shit, shit! He felt as the world was falling to pieces, all because of a really stupid mistake.

Haruhi was beginning to wonder if the girl- and all the problems that resulted from her- was turning him insane.

He had the first move, but he couldn't think- it's not like it would have had any type moves yet, but… but…

"You were trying to get the water type, weren't you?"

Was the girl a mind reader? Some creature from beyond sent to torment him? What the hell was with her? Better question: _Why did he care?_

Ignoring her, he quietly told the Pokemon- it was a Chikorita, or that was at least the name he remembered, to tackle her own starter. As if they had been battling together for years, she ordered her Cyndaquil to do the same and it hit his- He hated the fact he even poessed the stupid mistake- Chikorita head on.

He tried. He really, really wanted to beat her. Badly. It was the first time in years he had ever wanted something that much. But he lost. The grass Pokemon fell to the ground in defeat, and his hands closed into fists.

He would beat her. If it took days or months, if it took all the training he had, he would defeat her. Then, she'd drift away forever- He'd never have to think about her again- and he could become the Pokemon champion in peace.

"It's a promise," he murmured quietly. One that would be kept.

"What's that? I couldn't hear you!"

He thought for a second that she was reading his mind again. "You happy you won?" He grit his teeth, trying to hold in his anger and bitter disappointment.

"Very!"

Obnoxious, annoying girl.

"This is nothing," he reminded himself as he sent his pokemon back into its ball. After all… "I'm going to be the world's greatest Pokemon trainer."

Silence fell, and if he wondered if he had actually said something quietly.

"Well, then you better tell me your name so I can spread the word."

Or not.

He looked back up at her, his new, annoying, obnoxious problem in his life.

"Like hell I'm telling you," was all he said, and he walked past her. He walked three steps before he glanced over his shoulder and saw her holding a small white card. What the-

His trainer card.

"Give it back!" he shouted, running at her as she danced out of grip, holding it high above her head.

"That's my trainer card!" he attempted, stupidly hoping she was going to react to this.

She did. In completely the wrong way.

"Oooh!" she exclaimed, lowering the card to read it. Her eyes darted to the name, and he could see the syllables digest in her head.

Ha. Ru. Hi.

His stupid name was a secret no more. Taking her distraction as advantage, he pushed her waist and she fell like a ton of bricks, and he plucked the card from her fingers as she fell, without any sense of grace or elegance, onto the ground.

_She saw my name. Damnit,_ he thought, as he ran away from her and her chaotic black hole of life wreckage.


End file.
